Ambushed names are not to be supported

FreshBooksLogoLately I have been getting a lot of advertising about switching our company accounting to Fresh Books – probably because we are loyal QuickBooks users. However, companies that don’t have the gumption to come up without their own unique names, and instead try to ambush some of the brand equity of other famous names, will never have my support. It is anathema to the way I do business and the way I believe brands should be developed and it just makes me feel sick to the stomach.

That is also why I have never even tasted Powerade (now a Coca Cola line) even though I can no longer drink Gatorade (now a Pepsi brand) because of its excessive amount of sugar. Nor have I ever driven a Land Cruiser, even when I briefly worked in online sales for a Toyota dealer, though I pine for a new LandRover.

If a small local pizza shop calls themselves Hominoes, that may be fun and attract some attention that unfortunately Dominoes can not do much about, except to say that Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But this is not the route for major brands – shame on you all who do.

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Posted in Branding, Name Origins, Naming Education, Naming News, Trademarks

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See his industry naming commentary (where he takes a critical look at names) via the blog on this site